THE UNIVERSITY of Minnesota Press (UMP) celebrates its 100-year anniversary this year—but it’s still common for people to contact the office looking for the college newspaper, the Minnesota Daily.

It’s an understandable mistake. While there are more than 100 university presses across the U.S., many people have never heard of them, or assume they exist solely to produce yearbooks or dry academic tomes.

The truth is more interesting. University presses are nonprofit publishers, and not just of scholarly works but nonfiction, fiction, journals, and other materials for wideranging audiences of all ages. (Yes, literary theorist and critic Terry Eagleton’s Literary Theory: An Introduction has been a bestseller for the press since its 1983 publication. But guess what 2024’s bestselling book was? Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again, the first English translation of sci-fi writer Shigeru Kayama’s novels on which the 1954 film Godzilla was based.)

“Those novels have never been translated or published outside Japan, so when a scholar we’ve worked with [Jeffrey Angles] asked if we’d be interested in a translation, we said yes right away,” recalls Doug Armato, UMP director for the past 27 years. “We’ve done some Japanese fan books in the past, and we’re grateful to have been able to develop the manuscript and get the rights to get this out there. It’s been really fun.”

That fun, risk-taking spirit, and the mix of things they do, are why UMP has not just survived for a century, but thrived, publishing more than 4,800 books since its founding in 1925. “I always said when I was working at other presses that U of M was where I wanted to be, and not just because it’s great,” Armato recalls. “This press has always been ambitious and maneuverable. We’re like a speedboat among freighters because we zip around in new directions and people are amazed by the kinds of things we take on.”

Books about plants and animals for kids and adults; a recent autobiography of Minneapolis musician James “Cornbread” Harris Jr.; children’s picture books on everything from nature to being a refugee in Minnesota; and its current bestseller, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen by Chef Sean Sherman. They are all UMP’s way of saying, “Hey, let’s get in there and do things differently,” Armato says. There’s also Manifold, the digital publishing platform they launched in 2017 and use along with other publishers around the world.

Five directors, one mission

Preparing for their centennial celebration has given UMP staff an opportunity to look back through history through stories, clippings, and photos. Over its 100 years, UMP has been helmed by just five directors, three of them women. Each faced many of the same challenges: strategizing over financials, finding readers and broadening audiences, and helping scholars spread knowledge inside and outside academia.

Margaret Harding was the publisher’s first director. Known for saying it was her “deepest belief that education would be the salvation of mankind,” she was also one of the first female directors of a major university press. It was Harding who acquired the publishing rights to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), another key reason UMP is internationally renowned. Developed by U of M researchers in the late 1930s, the MMPI has become the most widely used personality test in the world.

“A lot of university presses publish journals and other things like we do, but our Test Division is unique,” Armato explains, “and we’re always actively developing the MMPI and the other tools that accompany it.”

Harding led the Press for 25 years and was succeeded by Helen Clapesattle, author of The Doctors Mayo, a New York Times bestselling history of the Mayo Clinic, published in 1941. John (“Jack”) Ervin Jr. became the third director in 1957, and during his 30-year tenure, UMP published the notable University of Minnesota Pamphlets on American Writers series, edited by Richard Foster, Allen Tate, and Robert Penn Warren.

Believing scholarly publishing was a bit dry in the ’70s and ’80s, Ervin made several pivotal decisions, expanding the types of books on which UMP focuses, as well as their reach. An alliance with the Guthrie Theater resulted in the publication of a series of plays called the Minnesota Drama Editions. Ervin also opted to publish all scholarly works in paperback rather than just hardcover.

“I was just a kid working in publishing when I met Jack, and we’d have these long conversations that meant a lot to me,” Armato recalls. “He made us the first press to do every scholarly book in paperback, because expensive hardcovers mostly went into libraries, and he wanted everyone to be able to buy and read them. That decision helped make us who we are today, and we still do everything in paperback as well as eBooks.”

By the time Lisa Freeman became the fourth director in 1989, UMP was internationally known for being a leading publisher of European philosophy and for helping introduce critical and social theory to North American audiences. Among the Press’s notable scholarly achievements during Freeman’s tenure was the publication of the Theory and History of Literature series, which grad students dubbed “the lipstick series” for its colorful covers. Edited by U of M faculty members, the series is credited with changing the course of humanities scholarship in American higher education.

Freeman went on to broaden the Press’s theoretical scholarship to include the social sciences, and she embraced socially engaged publishing, including feminist and cultural studies. She also oversaw the publisher’s move in 1994 from a rundown space near the University’s laundry facilities to a new office in downtown Minneapolis near the Mississippi River, where they remain today.

Four years later, Armato took the helm.

A very human job

Since 2000, UMP has won 24 Minnesota Book Awards, with more than 50 finalists in several categories. Winners are Minnesota-based authors, and books often focus on the state in some way, such as Minnesota’s Geologist by Sue Leaf, Seven Aunts by Staci Drouillard, or David Hugill’s Settler Colonial City.

Armato doesn’t take credit for UMP’s award-winning regional books program; it was already robust in 1998 when he became director. But he committed to strengthening it even more. “This press has never stood still, and we were already leading in many ways,” he says. “I wanted to use our strength and creativity to tell stories differently to broader audiences, and I knew we’d have no problem finding enough regional authors. Minnesota is an incredible place to be a book publisher. People here love writing, reading, and they also love the U.”

Erik Anderson, senior trade and acquisitions editor, joined UMP in 2008 and has run the regional books program for the past 12 years. With an undergrad degree in English, a master’s in Scottish poetry, and a resume that includes working as a puppeteer for a kids’ TV show and a stint as a marine biology educator, he’s got an eclectic mix of skills for a job that’s turned out to be quite different than what he expected.

“Coming out of grad school, I thought being a book editor meant leaning up against a tree smoking a pipe and thinking about things,” Anderson says with a laugh. “But it’s really about listening, having conversations, and collaborating in a very human way. Yes, the physical book is important, but being curious and helping authors shape their ideas and write the books they want to write is really at the heart of what I do.”

Anderson treasures the time he spent time with noted author and cook Beatrice Ojakangas working on her memoir/cookbook, Homemade, published in 2018. “I remember being in the kitchen at her place in the woods,” he recalls. “The book includes a lot of recipes, and she started baking French bread while we were talking about how she grew up on a small farm. I scribbled down the recipe because I wanted it, and she told me how she created steam by putting wet rocks from Lake Superior in a pan at the bottom of the oven. There are so many small, precious moments like that when you’re working with authors and that’s what makes this job so special.”

And then there was the time he worked with wellknown entrepreneur and humorist Dudley Riggs on his 2017 memoir Flying Funny. Riggs was telling stories about growing up working in the circus. “He did a highwire act when he was young and, as he told me about that, he got up and walked out onto the balcony. He used a cane, but he said he could easily get up on the railing if he wanted to, even though we were 10 stories up. He was pulling my leg a bit, but he was also saying something very true about how he saw himself and I really enjoyed spending time with him.”

Bruce Kramer, longtime host of Minnesota Public Radio’s Morning Edition, had already been suffering from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) for years when Anderson worked with him and Almanac’s Cathy Wurzer on his 2017 memoir We Know How This Ends. “Bruce was in the last months of his life, and he wanted to share things he’d learned from having ALS and he was still trying to get as much from life as he could,” Anderson recalls. “I remember feeling changed every time I walked out of the room after those talks. Moments like that make you recognize how lucky you are, how lucky I am to have the job I have. This job has changed me as a person.” 

100 years of collaboration

Books need support to succeed, and UMP books are fortunate to have Production Assistant Eliza Edwards looking after them. Edwards, who majored in creative writing and East Asian studies, made her way to UMP in fall 2021 after working as an archive assistant for the University’s Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection, the largest repository of LBGTQIA material in the Midwest.

Working with editors and other colleagues, Edwards helps transform books from raw manuscripts to published works. She’s also part of the team that keeps books in print when stock gets low. “Before I got here, I didn’t realize books need tending their whole lives,” she explains. “I’m happy to be one of the people who makes sure they have what they need when they’re out in the world, and I’m grateful to be in a workplace where everyone works so closely in an interwoven web.”

Edwards grew up in a family of readers and recalls one bookcase always having a lower shelf filled with books from UMP. “Some were scholarly, and others were more general on things like Minnesota history and Earth sciences. I remember always thinking about how opening a book is like sitting around a campfire listening to a good story. They’re so much comfort, especially in difficult times.”

Looking at photos staff shared while planning the centennial events, Edwards was struck by how she saw the same caring, collective passion she enjoys with colleagues now reflected in faces from the past. “They all built such an incredible foundation for us to do what we do,” she says. “People are always seeking knowledge and guidance and there is so much wisdom packed into the books we’ve had the honor of publishing for 100 years.” 

Meleah Maynard is a freelance writer and editor in Minneapolis.

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